4870 Waterblock Options

[dnottis]

Oh, sorry for you. That was the second card or the one you wanted to RMA?
So heat could kill those cards. Any one used to electronics knows that even if some circuits are built to run at 125°C, they will for sure die quicker than if ran at 60°C or 55°C

One more reasone not to cut original heatsink, or your RMA will be voided

Maybe also mounting/unmounting without electrostatic protection killed your card

That was the first one. So maybe the VRM overheating issue is a sign of faulty components on the GPU. I didnt remount it before it died. It just started to artifact in MOHA, when I came back to the desktop within a few minutes the screen went green with lines. Would not boot anymore, no more LEDs, nothing. Dead GPU. I had the fans over the back end and the VRMs werent getting all that hot when it died.

Definitely dont cut up the stock heatsink. Heres hoping an Asus 4870 will be a better choice.

[Cornelious0_0]

Wow...a LOT of info in this thread.

I am in the planning stages of a watercooling setup in my Shuttle XPC SP35P2 that won't probably happen for a couple months, but I was looking at GPU blocks and was considering the D-Tek Fuzion v2 GPU block when someone pointed me to this thread.

I suppose it's a good thing that it'll be a little while before I'm ready to start buying/building this loop...hopefully things will be sorted out by then.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread though, keep at the research guys...all the hard work is very much appreciated.

[Rickpatbrown]

That was an intense thread, and the hero died at the end too.

[Cornelious0_0]

I'm really hoping that all this turns out NOT to be purely temperature related, as I would really like to be able to get away with a GPU only block...but I wouldnt have a lot of airflow over the card to take care of the memory/vrm and other heatsinks on the card.

[jonny_ftm]

That was an intense thread, and the hero died at the end too.

[dnottis]

That was an intense thread, and the hero died at the end too.

lol.

Our next hero should be here by 3PM

[Cornelious0_0]

lol.

Our next hero should be here by 3PM

Very good to hear, I'm constantly flip-flopping back and forth between a full coverage block and a GPU-only block and it'll be nice to have some more info to work with.

[dnottis]

Decided to get another brand after the HIS bit the dust. Asus HD4870, actually ran Furmark on stock cooler. VRM runs cooler too on this board. I sinked everything as good as I could and have the 120 over it. So far it's looking good.

I believe the HIS HD4870 was just defective.

[Cornelious0_0]

Is it stable enough for Furmark without the 120mm fan? Chances are I'm gonna cave and go with a full coverage EK block, but if I change my mind I'd be curious to see how your new card does with the heatsinks but no direct airflow.

[jonny_ftm]

That's look a definately better VRM temperatures. So, there are some bad batches of these cards, since on many forums this problem is reported.

I'm also interested to see how it runs without the 120mm fan, with just adequate airflow in the case

[dnottis]

Is it stable enough for Furmark without the 120mm fan? Chances are I'm gonna cave and go with a full coverage EK block, but if I change my mind I'd be curious to see how your new card does with the heatsinks but no direct airflow.

Im scared to run it without the cooling. The VRM temps were lower with the stock cooler too. I have to see if the card and sinks get as hot with this card.

I almost didnt put it on water today after the last one died.

[jonny_ftm]

Im scared to run it without the cooling. The VRM temps were lower with the stock cooler too. I have to see if the card and sinks get as hot with this card.

I almost didnt put it on water today after the last one died.

You can always disconnect the fan, monitor the temps, and if it reaches 70°C, turn your fan on, no risks that way

[dnottis]

You can always disconnect the fan, monitor the temps, and if it reaches 70°C, turn your fan on, no risks that way

I know but after losing one, just makes me worried lol

[Cornelious0_0]

*shrugs*

Maybe I'll just deal with the extra heat and go with the EK full coverage block when it's available.

[jonny_ftm]

I know but after losing one, just makes me worried lol

So we won't know if it can do it, a monobloc only setup
I can unerstand your fears, but if you carefully monitor temps, no need to worry.

Anyway, seeing your temperatures, it should do it, like Gabe pointed it

[Yozzman]

I know but after losing one, just makes me worried lol

I should be 2 :P

GoT the HD4870 waiting for WC cooling...
FC or een GPU only...
Want to do the GPU if the VRM's can run without the fan

[Cornelious0_0]

I should be 2 :P

GoT the HD4870 waiting for WC cooling...
FC or een GPU only...
Want to do the GPU if the VRM's can run without the fan

Me2...if the VRM's and other small components can run without direct airflow then I'll get a GPU only block to lower heat dumped into the loop.

Seeing as I don't have the option of direct airflow on the card in my Shuttle I'll have to go with a full coverage block if the card can't handle it with no direct airflow so I'm eager to see what happens.

[Yozzman]

A Shuttle doesn't have a lot of room to breath...

In dnottis situation, reversed ATX should be good.
The heat isn't trapped under the PCB...
Same here in my stacker stc01

[Cornelious0_0]

A Shuttle doesn't have a lot of room to breath...

In dnottis situation, reversed ATX should be good.
The heat isn't trapped under the PCB...
Same here in my stacker stc01

I know...the best I could do is add a 80mm or 92mm to the left side panel that blows across the system towards the video card, but it would still be very weak airflow that wouldn't hit the whole card once it got to the HD4870 anyways.

Pretty sure I should just play it safe in the Shuttle and go with the full coverage EK block when I can but I'm still curious to see what's possible with the GPU only setup.

[dnottis]

Is it stable enough for Furmark without the 120mm fan? Chances are I'm gonna cave and go with a full coverage EK block, but if I change my mind I'd be curious to see how your new card does with the heatsinks but no direct airflow.

Without the fan over the card, the VRMs get smoking hot. Hot to touch and the sensor reflects that. Here is idle and full out Furmark - without additional cooling these cards are going to burn up. even with the stock cooler, they are going to die if you push Furmark too much.

[Cornelious0_0]

Yes the VRM is running at 125C...but what is the chip rated for? I could have sworn I heard it said earlier in this thread that they're good up to 125C for extended use. If that's the case then wouldn't it be ok? Obviously you're not going to be running Furmark 24/7...and no game pushes the card to those limits, so if it peaks at or just below the rated temperature during Furmark then I would think it would be ok for day to day gaming would it not?

EDIT: Just did some reading and it does seem like the VRM is supposed to be able to handle 125C just fine...so then I ask...can you do everything we USED to do to determine stability before Furmark came along? 3DMark06/rthdribl etc...I'm not saying that Furmark is botching numbers, but if it's the only program that heats the VRM up that high but even then it's still within spec I don't see what the problem is for day to day use.

Isn't it also possible that Everest is reading/reporting temps incorrectly? Has someone confirmed these 120c VRM temps with a infrared thermometer or something?

Any thoughts?

[dnottis]

Yes the VRM is running at 125C...but what is the chip rated for? I could have sworn I heard it said earlier in this thread that they're good up to 125C for extended use. If that's the case then wouldn't it be ok? Obviously you're not going to be running Furmark 24/7...and no game pushes the card to those limits, so if it peaks at or just below the rated temperature during Furmark then I would think it would be ok for day to day gaming would it not?

EDIT: Just did some reading and it does seem like the VRM is supposed to be able to handle 125C just fine...so then I ask...can you do everything we USED to do to determine stability before Furmark came along? 3DMark06/rthdribl etc...I'm not saying that Furmark is botching numbers, but if it's the only program that heats the VRM up that high but even then it's still within spec I don't see what the problem is for day to day use.

Isn't it also possible that Everest is reading/reporting temps incorrectly? Has someone confirmed these 120c VRM temps with a infrared thermometer or something?

Any thoughts?

From the readings on a hand held thermal sensor I've say the VRM is hitting about 70c on the surface, I dont believe 125c, 250F cause they would just melt the PCB. The heatsinks on the VRMs get very hot to touch while running Furmark.

So, yes it's possible. I just dont want to fry another card. So I'll be using additional fans for now. Use caution as I dont really think the stock cooler can do a decent job with the VRMs getting as hot as they do.

[Cornelious0_0]

Fair enough...I'd probably be the same way if I had just lost a card as well.

Interesting to see the difference between surface temperature and the internal reading. Whether or not the VRM temp reported by Everest is even accurate I don't know.

[jonny_ftm]

Without the fan over the card, the VRMs get smoking hot. Hot to touch and the sensor reflects that. Here is idle and full out Furmark - without additional cooling these cards are going to burn up. even with the stock cooler, they are going to die if you push Furmark too much.

You're great, many thanks for doing the tests.
I now fully agree with you that using a GPU only WB without active cooling will kill th eboard at those temperatures

It's really the VRM. Sad, it seems that the time of GPU only WB is done, unless we can fit some mosfets WB on the card

[Cornelious0_0]

Sad, it seems that the time of GPU only WB is done, unless we can fit some mosfets WB on the card

Sad for sure...in are the days of restrictive full coverage blocks I guess.